Well, July is here once more, and boy is it a hot one up here in the not-so-frozen North! What with the record-breaking temperatures that we've been experiencing coupled with situations like the California drought (a situation at which we too now find ourselves staring in supposedly water-rich Western Canada) and the unprecedented rate at which the Polar ice and the world's glaciers are now melting, even the most reactionary nay-sayer is now hard-pressed to deny the reality of climate change and our collective role in bringing it about. Let's hope for the sake of generations to come that we can find the collective will to respond appropriately. The recent commitment by participants at the G7 summit would be a good start if they actually follow through. 
One such article was my write-up of the fascinating 
On the subject of feedback, over the past month the receipt of information from my highly valued readers has continued unabated. I heard from Maris Dislers of Australia regarding the 
Ever since the mid 2014 departure of the Fox Mfg. Co. from the ranks of active model engine manufacturers, I've been maintaining a watching brief on the status of the various long-standing model engine manufacturers who are still active. As discussed in 
The latest marque to end up on my check-up list is Progress Aero Works (better known as just plain PAW) of Macclesfield in England. Although the range continues to be advertised periodically in I couldn't agree more! Long may the PAW engines continue to give pleasure to model diesel fans worldwide! Given the fact that the web-site is not up to date, anyone wanting to buy one of these fine products would best be advised to contact Tony or Paul Eifflaender directly by email at wendy@eifflaender.com
Sorting out the PAW situation put me in mind of the Sharma range of model engines which have been manufactured since 1974 in Jodhpur, India. These unpretentious but very well-made engines are undeniably based very closely upon the above-mentioned PAW designs which originated in the 1950's. I've been using them myself since the mid-1990's, having been one of the first North American residents to do so on a regular basis. Many of my club-mates and fellow competitors subsequently followed my lead with complete satisfaction.
I recently contacted Vivek Sharma to ascertain the current status of the range. The news was good! Although production of the Sharma glow-plug models has been suspended for now at least, the diesel models remain available as of mid 2015 in .09, .15 and .19 cuin. displacements. Both C/L and R/C models are offered. Prices are very reasonable for what you get, which is a no-frills but very well-made engine having an excellent performance by "classic" model diesel standards.
But there was even better news than this! It turns out that Vivek is an enthusiastic reader of this web-site! When I broached the possibility of my doing an article summarizing the history of the Sharma marque and including some tests of the current models, he expressed himself as being delighted to assist in every way possible. Accordingly, readers may expect to see a detailed article on the Sharma engines appear on this site in the not-too-distant future. As a start, I've added the Sharma web-site to my SOURCES page.
Turning now to this month's feature article, we move up into the post-classic era for the first-ever in-depth look in the English language at one of the more obscure model engine ranges to emerge from Japan during that era - the HGK marque. Originating in 1974, this short-lived series of high-quality model engines was notable in being the first commercial range to employ the then-new AAC (aluminium/aluminium/chrome) piston/cylinder technology. My very sincere thanks are extended to my mate Maris Dislers for his very considerable assistance in pulling this story together.
Although the engines were very well-designed, also being manufactured to extremely high standards, their performance was limited by a few basic departures from the range of tolerances which later experimentation showed to be ideal for AAC engines. In a sense, they were victims of their own priority in being first in the field with new technology at a time when that technology was still not fully understood. This explains their relatively brief marketplace tenure. Nontheless, it's an interesting story, the tracking of which was unusually challenging due to a shortage of accessible source material in the English language. I hope that you enjoy it!
The Technical Topic this time is a summary of the various approaches which are available to deal with the tricky issue of magnesium casting cleaning and preservation. As any owner of a mag case engine knows, that material has an overwhelming tendency to try to return to its natural mineral state! Constant vigilance is required to prevent this from happening. In addition to sharing my own experience of this issue, I've also been able to summarize the experiences of a number of friends and colleagues who face similar challenges with their own collections. My thanks go out to all of my contributors, with a special acnowledgement to Jerry Turnbaugh of Pasco, Washington, USA for his kindness in undertaking a detailed Web seach to see what others have suggested in this regard. I hope that some of you find the article useful!
Speaking of magnesium-case engines, for next month I plan to return to Great Britain by presenting a comprehensively revised article summarizing the history of the E.D range. An earlier article on this topic appeared some years ago on MEN, but further information has come to light since then which has necessitated a complete re-write with the assistance of my valued colleagues Kevin Richards and Gordon Cornell. It had been my intention to replace the present MEN article with the revised text, but Ron Chernich's tragic demise and the consequent freezing of the MEN site have precluded this. Time to set the record straight!
I also plan to add a technical article on the care and feeding of model diesels in the harsh environment of everyday use in the field. If you want 'em to last, you have to treat 'em right! There's more to that than many users appear to recognize .........
Sadly, I have to close this month's Editorial on a somewhat less positive note. The past few weeks brought another piece of correspondence which hurt me very much, as it was doubtless intended to do. Same old "too many words" complaint, but now with a new twist - it was suggested that my site is nothing more than a bloated and over-wordy monument to my own ego. Worse, it was further suggested that my mate Ron Chernich concurred with this view of my work when discussing it with others! What have I done to provoke such vitriol ...?!?
I had actually (perhaps naively?!?) believed that my efforts were motivated by a sincere desire to preserve and share the full stories of some classic model engines and manufacturers while the opportunity was there to do so. With the notable exception of my friend Tim Dannels and ECJ, no-one else was stepping up to the plate, and I felt that someone should be taking on the challenge of maintaining an on-line record. I have trouble seeing where ego comes into this....... interest, enthusiasm and dedication are required in buckets, along with a willingness to invest money in the project. But ego ....?!? Believe me, if someone else was doing this, I'd be delighted to have all the time and cash which would be freed up at my disposal for other activities!
I only started this site (with Ron Chernich's full encouragement) because Ron and I both believed very sincerely that the only way to maintain interest in classic model engines, thus encouraging their collection and preservation, is to ensure that there's authoritative and comprehensive information about them that is readily available to all. These days, that means on the Web. No-one's going to collect or preserve items about which there's no documentation! Prior to his tragic demise, Ron and I discussed the concept of my carrying on and agreed that the detailed historical research which we had begun together was well worth continuing. Here are my good mate's own words taken verbatim from his final email to me on this subject:
"Good luck with the web site. Link to MEN pages often and widely. It helps with the Google ranking. Also feel totally free to lift any images or anything else that seems useful. That's why I used a Creative Commons license. I know you will accredit as required because you've always been on top of that one."
I've taken that statement as my marching orders and have complied with Ron's requests as closely as possible all along. I've put more time, money and effort into this venture than most of you would believe! If I was wrong to do so, then I should stop right now - there are many other challenges open to me! Perhaps one of my critics can do better .........I've always liked the concept of "put up or shut up!"
I fully recognize that the level of detail that I provide is doubtless far more than some people want, but how many times do I have to say it - no-one's forcing anyone to read it all, or indeed any of it! If you just want a few paragraphs, go to the GALLERY! Or ignore it completely .........The point is that all of the information is available to be read by anyone who is interested - my readers are free to select which bits to read for themselves. Please take full advantage of that freedom! I just wish that my critics would exercise their freedom to stop visiting this site which they hate so much!!
End of rant ...............and also end of topic. I'm going to ignore any future gripes of this sort and just keep doing what I do as long as the feedback from readers remains generally positive (as it has overwhelmingly done so far), or until someone else takes over the effort at the same level of coverage.
Until next time, take care and keep your fingers out of those props!!
Cheers,
Adrian Duncan
Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada